Cardiff Castle Roman gate

[Caballo]

This is the rebuilt Roman West gate of Cardiff castle. The Marquess of Bute who owned the site in Victorian times discovered the remains of the Roman gate way (they are the paler bricks, with a modern line of red bricks above them) and so decided to rebuild the Roman gate on the original plan. He also rebuilt the walls on the Roman foundations- again, with the red modern brick above the Roman wall (Can we have more wealthy patrons/ aristocrats like that please?)


I'm ashamed to say that I have ben to Cardiff scores of times and didn't know this existed until we had a superb Roman day there yesterday, complete with the catapulta Bestia, two ballista, five archers, and c. 20 legionaries and auxillaries. (The event on today as well if you are in the area).

Cheers

Caballo

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Lucky buggers! I'm stuck in Dundee for the next week or 2.
Sounds like a good weekend!

[D B Campbell]

... superb Roman day there yesterday, complete with the catapulta Bestia, two ballista, five archers, ...

Any more pictures?

I'm stuck in Dundee for the next week or 2.

Punishment for bad behaviour?

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Actually, its not the worst place in the world, to be honest hock: hock: hock: OMG I said it.....
No work. OK yes your right.....

[Caratacus]

The two photos show the castle from (a) inside the main gate and (b) outside, along the curtain wall. You can also go inside the castle and on the left of Picture 1 there is a set of stairs that goes down into an area where you can see the original Roman wall - in this case without the Victorian reconstruction on top of it.

The castle itself is a fascinating place. It doesn't just contain the Marquis of Bute's fantasy world (when you are the Bill Gates of your day, what else would you do with the money?) In the centre is the medieval keep of the castle. There are also two military museums, one in the Black Tower and the other in the Barbican Tower - these being the two reconstructed towers either side of the main gateway. On the left (as you enter) is the Welsh Regiment museum and on the right is the museum of the 3rd Carabineers (Welsh Cavalry).

The only fly in the proverbial ointment is the tourist centre outseide. They've got a picture there of some clown wearing a set of lorica segmentata armour. I knew there was something wrong with it but couldn't pin it down. Then it dawned on me - the idiot had the thing on back-to-front!

There's a lot of arguement about the name of the place. 'Cardiff' is the anglicised version of the Welsh - "Caerdydd". 'Caer' means 'camp' or 'fort', but what of 'dydd'? It can mean just 'day' - but that doesn't make a lot of sense. It may be a corruption of 'Taff' - which is the main river on which the city lies. For those who may be interested, here is a summary of what we known about the Roman fortress.

The first fort c.A.D.55-75.
The first Roman fort at Cardiff appears to have been a large one. Excavations under the Castle Green (the eastern half of the castle interior) revealed a large timber-framed building over 46m long N-S and possibly as wide, situated near the northern end of the Green. The date and size both indicate a military function and this may be part of a headquarters building or possibly a commander’s house. Some way south of this was a further timber building complex, the plan of which is unlike most standard military fort buildings and which might, therefore, be an officer’s house. The 2005-6 excavations revealed a further building, possibly a barrack block, under the later south castle bank. Finds, including coins, link these structures with the Neronian period. The lack of any defences, despite excavations on several sites within the castle interior, suggests a fort which was larger than the standard 3-5 acres (1-2 hectares) of a single auxiliary unit. A fort of the so-called ‘vexillation’ type of c.30 acres (12 hectares) is probable, having its the perimeter outside the present castle enclosure.

The second fort c.A.D. 75-100.
The first fort will have been part of the Neronian frontier established as the Romans moved into Wales but before they completed the conquest of the centre and east of Wales. Once this conquest had taken place, the need would have been for small garrisons to control the communications network, not large campaign bases. It is likely, therefore, that the ditch, rampart and gateway, aligned E-W and found cutting the first fort in the northern half of the Green belonged to a smaller garrison base. The ramparts face south and the attached fort will have extended north of the present castle enclosure into the area occupied today by tennis courts and the approach to the Castle Mews. The date assigned to this second fort is approximate and may be altered following further work.

The third fort c.A.D.100-260.
The southern defences of the second fort were altered, probably c.A.D.100. The ditch was filled and re-cut about a metre in front of its original position. The wooden gateway was similarly moved south by about a metre. Unless we assume a military mindset of the type which in more recent years had soldiers whitewashing coal, this seems odd unless we assume that it was part of a more radical re-planning. The most likely scenario is that the second fort was replaced by another on a similar alignment but probably smaller. Such a re-planning was often achieved by moving one or two ramparts some distance, but might well involve simple rebuilding on the other two sides. We are probably looking at such a rebuilding on the south.

The fourth fort c.A.D.260-c.A.D.400.
Some time after the mid third century, a large stone fort was built at Cardiff. This is the fort, the walls of which have been restored on the north, east and south and which dictated the plan of all subsequent development. The plan is approximately square though no wall is absolutely straight from corner to corner. There were gates with projecting hollow towers to the north and south and projecting bastions on all four sides. Behind the wall was a small bank, the top of which roughly coincides with an offset narrowing the wall seen in the so-called Roman Wall Gallery at something over head height. The wall was in excess of 16 feet high (its highest surviving point) and probably about the height restored in the 19th and 20th centuries (though without the gallery which is almost certainly incorrect). The interior appears to have had timber buildings resting on foundations formed by spreading out cobble and slag from the earlier industrial phase of the civil settlement. A bath-house near the south-west corner is a possibility. We may assume that this late fort operated in conjunction with a fleet using the Taff estuary as a harbour. It was occupied at least into the 380s.

Caratacus
(Mike Thomas)